A Fighter's Time
by ManiazAzn
Summary: After 9 years in prison, forcefully retired boxer, Natsuki Kruger, is released from her cell into the cold world again. As she tries to piece back her life, she meets someone who's willing to help. Only to find out she has a daughter. Eventual ShizNat.
1. Chapter 1

Oh my god, guys I'm sorry, I just keep getting ideas.

D:

If I actually finish one story of mine. I'm gunna have myself a celebratory drink.

Like, a glass of milk and Oreos.

What? We're you expecting alcohol?! BADDDDD PEOPLES!

Okay, I swear to god this is ShizNat. SWEAR TO FRICKIN GOD.

(And some NatNao.)

;D

-ManiazAzn

* * *

_Once I was a boxer._

_When I stepped into the ring, I became the master of its destiny. However, not all of the matches had winners. _

_I'm Natsuki Kruger._

**-Flashback-**

"Natsuki Kruger!"

I stopped in my tracks at the voice calling for me and turned back, expecting the paparazzi or maybe a rabid fan. My supporting team stopped alongside me, with irritated looks on their faces, seeing as I was late. My boss, trainer, and long-time friend, Chie Harada, however, figured it was best to keep the crowd waiting. _It raises the tension._ That's what she had said. Mai gave an impatient tap of her feet.

And of course, it was the paparazzi.

"Go over there to shoot." A redhead at the front of the pack was beckoning for her camera-man to move to the side of me. At the sight of her, I was intrigued. To this day, I have no idea why, but a look into her forest green eyes told me she wasn't a regular reporter. She held a camcorder of her own and after the camera-man got into place, the redhead flipped it open and started recording me.

She moved forward and spoke to the me, her eyes still on the camera. "Okay, ready...post please!"

I gave a small smile and did as she said, readying my arms. My left arm by my ear, my right stretched out, bent at the elbow.

"That's it! More action."

Giving little jabs toward the camcorder, I quickly put in an uppercut, which undoubtedly put a smile on her face.

"That's great." She said, still smiling. "Post please."

I was slightly surprised at the abruptness, considering I was getting in the mood, but I did as she asked.

She then closed her camcorder and, lo and behold, it became a camera. Swiftly, she took a couple of pictures and asked for one more.

"Just one more." With this, she gave a grin. Instead of using her expensive camera, she took a battered one out of her own pocket. Holding it up to her eyes, she came up close and personal before the light flickered and the shot was taken.

I gave a smile.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Inter Continental Kick Boxing Championship." The crowd roared their approval, already have seen the first few bloody matches of the event.

During the first couple matches, Nao had gone around the arena with her camera crew and taken quite a few satisfactory pictures. This one boxer, Yuuichi Tate, seemed pretty capable of becoming the champion, considering his matches seemed to be no problem. Each of his competitors went out of the arena and straight to the emergency room, only to be dead a few hours later, her sources had told her.

The Natsuki Kruger people had talked about, didn't seem so tough. Her boss had been determined on getting the pictures of this "amazing girl-boxer". In the ring, she seemed nothing like a boxer. Her second match, she'd been knocked down flat by another.

Immediately, the crowd booed this seemingly quick match.

Nao could hear Kruger's manager yelling, "I told you the freaking hand uppercut!"

Her lime-green eyes immediately fell to the young boxer's own on the floor of the ring.

* * *

My head was ringing, my hands were trembling, and I could hear Chie furiously calling out instructions. The crowd was on my ass and I had to do something about it.

However, instead of looking at Chie, my eyes found the reporter I had met earlier.

Her eyes gave off a stream of disappointment. She fumbled with her camcorder and gave a shrug.

I couldn't have that.

* * *

Natsuki Kruger slowly got up on her feet, and walked towards her opponent, as if she didn't have a care in the world. The look on her face, as she got into her post, however, was a different story.

The amateur boxer was feeling quite smug, having knocked down one of the most formidable opponents in boxing history. He felt as if he did have to try anymore, and besides, she was a girl. What could she do?

That was his mistake.

Kruger faked a knee shot towards the other's stomach and almost immediately, he reached down to block it, but as he did, Natsuki plowed a right hook straight towards the side of his face and by the time his hands were up protecting his face, her punch had done its work.

Punch after punch, Natsuki was relentless. A jab here, another there. A strong uppercut to his jaw and he was wobbling, trying desperately to keep himself out of range.

His arms slipped and before he knew it, he was down on the floor, his head aching like hell.

He wasn't getting up anytime soon.

Natuski turned to give the red-headed reporter a shaky grin before pumping her arm in the air.

The crowd was ecstatic at the sight of blood shed along the way and that the winner had not escaped without scrapes herself.

Nao gave a huge smile as she took a long look at the standing boxer and whispered to herself, "This is good..."


	2. Chapter 2

Hum, second chapter!

Gawd, like finally.

xP

-ManiazAzn

* * *

_I've always asked myself. Why do I fight? But I get different answers in return._

_Until one day, I stopped._

_For I knew, it'd be in vain. There had never been a right answer._

**-Flashback-**

"Why did you want to become a boxer?" Juliet Nao Zhang asked as she leaned forward eagerly. She had asked the girl-boxer to lunch one day to get more details on her for this new book she was writing. Unsurprisingly, the boxer agreed.

Natsuki sat across from her in a white T-shirt and gray pants, her hair in a pony-tail, and gave her a innocent wide-eyed look. "It's what I do. Might as well get paid for it, eh? Besides, fighting on the streets was very unsanitary."

This drew a smile out of the reporter. "What's the most difficult thing about being a boxer?

Chewing thoughtfully, Natsuki swallowed her chicken and spoke, "How to win. No, wait. It's how to win the cash prize."

Natsuki grinned as the woman across her nodded in understanding. The boxer pulled a cigarette from behind her ear and added, "If you wanna continue this interview, introduce yourself first."

'Well...my name's Juliet Nao Zhang. But people only call me Nao." The said woman blushed as the boxer scrutinized her from the other side.

"And...?" Natsuki prodded. She slowly lit her cigarette and inhaled deeply.

"I'm a..free-lance photographer." While Nao was talking, Natsuki took her lighter in her hand and pretended she was filming the woman across from her with a camera. "I major in documentary, but I get some random jobs in magazines."

"Keep going..." The cigarette bounced slightly on Natsuki's lips as the redhead continued. "I was an orphan. I left the orphanage at age sixteen."

At this, Natsuki immediately stopped her fooling around. She left her hands collapse on her own lap and looked away. "Then I lived on my own."

Natsuki had an apologetic look on her face when she turned back. "Sorry."

Nao chuckled. "It's fine."

The two women talked for a little while more until Nao decided it was enough for one day. Natsuki offered to walk her back to her room in the hotel.

The two got their stuff together and as they were about to leave Natsuki heard voices of a few men.

"You know where Nao is?"

"No, she didn't say anything. Wait, isn't that her?"

"Juliet! Juliet!"

The redhead turned around to see Reito Kanzaki, the manager of Yuuichi Tate, and his goons. "Yeah?"

"We were looking for you. Where have you been?" Kanzaki seemed impatient.

"I-I was doing an interview." Nao shifted her eyes away from his gaze.

The manager snorted. "With a boxer like her?"

Natsuki narrowed her eyes at this, but didn't say anything. This was Nao's business, not hers. She respected that.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Confused, Nao tried to give a smile.

"You came here for my champion, not a little girl-boxer." Reito scoffed, talking as if Natsuki weren't there.

Now, Nao was pissed. "She's my documentary. I'm shooting anything I want!"

A dark-haired man, stepped up from behind Kanzaki. "Yes, you see, but the thing is? We're the ones who sponsored the negatives that got you in this trade in the first place. Give me that!"

The man grabbed at Nao's camera, which caused Natsuki to lash out in anger to keep the man from taking it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Natsuki spat out.

The other goons were holding the man back from trying to hit the boxer. "What? You wanna fight? Fight with me. I'll show you what real boxing is."

Natsuki stepped forward menacingly, almost as if she were going to take the challenge, but then looked at Nao and grinned.

Nao peered into bright emerald eyes and whispered an apology, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Come on, I'll take you back to your hotel room." With this, Natsuki took the photographer by the hand and dragged her away.

Reito looked at their retreating backs and sneered. "Don't worry. It'll be taken care of. Let's go."

The group of men followed their boss back outside, where Tate was waiting.


	3. Chapter 3

Hum hum hum...SMEX SCENE.

Kinda.

:D

O.o

-ManiazAzn

* * *

**-Flashback-**

The two had walked silently to Nao's hotel room, except Natuski had been fidgeting the whole time, deciding whether or not to act on these weird feelings she was having.

_To molest or not to molest, that is the question._

"Oh crap...I'm insane..." Natsuki muttered under her breath. She wrung her hands nervously.

"What was that?" Nao cocked her head innocently at the boxer with wide eyes. They had arrived at the hotel room and Nao was already standing inside, the door almost closing.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" The girl-boxer blushed deeply and not knowing what to do with her hands, rested them against the doorway.

"Oh...alright then. Good night." The redhead smiled seductively. Or so Natsuki thought.

"Good night." Natsuki didn't move from her spot.

Nao giggled, "Good night, Na-tsu-ki."

The said boxer shuffled her feet, but still didn't move. "Good night."

The two stood there for a while until Nao gave an exasperated sigh and pulled Natsuki inside. Before the girl-boxer could silently celebrate her victory in her head, a pair of delicious lips were pressed up against her own.

Nao's hands had buried themselves in her ponytail and was pulling her closer, to feel their bodies pressed against each other. Surprisingly, unlike what Natsuki had expected, the photographer tasted like strawberries...and cigarettes. Or maybe it was just herself.

Once Nao pulled away from the kiss, Natsuki managed to gasp out a comment, "I-I never knew you smoked."

The redhead cocked an eyebrow and replied coyly, "Didn't you see the missing cigarettes from your back pocket?"

Natsuki mulled that over. "Huh, I was wondering whether or not I left it back at the cafe."

"Well, how 'bout I give you those back afterwards?" Nao purred, drawing Natsuki closer by resting her arms on her shoulders.

"Depends on what afterwards means." Natsuki growled back and pressed her lips to Nao's neck, leaving butterfly kisses on her journey down to the redhead's collarbone.

Natsuki's arms had made their way to Nao's waist and her fingers were lightly dancing on the hem of her shirt. Feeling them, Nao immediately twisted away from Natsuki and flung her shirt over her head in a fluid motion. The sight left Natsuki breathless. The redhead had the most dangerous curves she'd ever seen, and she'd be damned if she didn't map out that body with her own two hands.

Or maybe just her tongue.

"Come on, you tough little boxer. Show me what you've got." Nao beckoned playfully with her index finger and swayed her hips to emphasize her point.

Natsuki let out a short bark of laughter and immediately pounced on the younger woman with relish.

**-Present-**

"Kruger..."

A roughened Natsuki stood in front of her old locker in the gym she'd used to box in, fingering a book. It had been sent to her during her prison time and since she'd been in prison, the book was deemed untrustworthy and sent back to the sender. Natsuki ran her hand over the cover.

It held a picture of herself in her post stance.

The book was called _Behind the Wolf, by Juliet Nao Zhang._

Her old manager stood behind her, cleaning her glasses with a cloth. Chie Hallard slowly placed the spectacles back on her face and eyed the grizzled boxer in front of her. A couple of up-and-coming talents were standing near the punching bags, watching the two, talking quietly.

"You just got released from prison, Natsuki. If there's anything we can do, just say the word."

Natsuki said nothing, now looking through the book, at last, reaching the author page, where a picture of a young Juliet was smiling that coy grin.

The clearly tired and older fighter spoke up quietly, her voice low and husky from years of unuse.

She only said four words.

"Go look for Nao."


	4. Chapter 4

Yo guys! Got a poll on mah profile, so go and check it out, eh?

:D

I swear to God the chapters are getting shorter.

Alritey!

Oh my god, I apologize to the NatNao fans. -.- Dun kill me. Please?

**Disclaimer: DUN OWN NAWTHIN'!**

-ManiazAzn

* * *

From the information Chie had given her, Nao had worked at this studio in Kyoto.

_Had._

Chie had told her the chances of Nao still being there was slim to none. But Natsuki had to take that chance. The chance of seeing the one person that she hadn't in close to 10 years.

And so, she took the next plane to Kyoto.

**-Kyoto- (Duh)**

"Excuse me!" Natsuki called out to a woman walking past her on the patio of the studio. The woman seemed not to hear her and continued on her way, leaving Natsuki angry.

Instead of chasing after the woman, Natsuki burst into the studio, yelling for someone to talk to her.

"DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE NAO IS?!" The ex-boxer shouted fiercely, causing people to jump up from their seats, scared. "ANYONE?!"

People whispered to themselves as they stared at the frantic woman in front of them. Some looked apprehensive and were about to call security until someone stepped up.

"Kruger? Natsuki Kruger?" The man spoke quietly to a fuming Natsuki.

"Yes. What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Want?" Natsuki spoke through gritted teeth, her hands clenched.

He silently beckoned her to the back of the studio, where a small office was contained. Once entering the office, he showed her to a seat and sat down across from her, closing the door of his office before he did.

The two sat there for a few minutes before the old man spoke up.

"You're here about Nao."

"No shit." Natsuki spat out. The man waved away her sarcastic comment and sighed, placing his hands together on the table in front of him, his elbows propped up.

He began. "Nao did this documentary in the States for this group called the Searrs. The thing is," At this point, the man sighed again and looked Natsuki in the eye. "...she ran into some drug dealers. That was 5 years ago."

The second the man had said Nao's name, Natsuki had calmed down, and upon hearing the last bit, became quiet. The thought of not seeing Nao anymore. The thought of not being there when Nao was in trouble. When she herself was stupid enough to get into prison and not think of _her_ safety.

The back of her eyes burned and Natsuki closed her eyes, picturing Nao's coy smile.

She was a fucking idiot.

Natsuki swallowed loudly before speaking with a broken voice. "Where is she buried?"

The man didn't answer. Instead, he came back with a question. "You do know you have a daughter?"

Seeing Natsuki stricken with surprise, he continued, "Nao and I were good friends. I know about you two. Your daughter's name is Nina. She's 15 and being taken care of by a Sister in an orphanage called Garderobe near Fuuka."


	5. Chapter 5

**Mwuahahaha! I know everyone's confused about the daughter thing, and frankly, so am I.**

**But there's a really simple answer to all yer questions!**

**How the hell does two women have a kid? **

**As I have said to many of my reviewers...SCREW SCIENCE. WE DON'T NEED IT IN HERE.**

**And how the crap is the Nina 15 years old?**

**...WELLLLLLLLL...**

**SHE'S ADOPTED DAMN IT!**

**:D**

**I'm glad we cleared that up. Or we can have the long explanation on here, which I highly doubt any of you would like to read. And honestly, I'm utterly confuzzled by my own explanations.**

**So voila. There you go.**

**-ManiazAzn**

* * *

"Hello Kyoto! This is your favorite radio DJ Takeda speaking! It's realllly windy today and I have a feeling there's gunna be some rain splashing on yer homes soon!"

The Sister rushed into the large trailer as the radio blared and quicky placed some objects on the desk beside the bookshelf, before picking out a large binder and setting it down on her desk.

Frantically, she looked through her drawers and sighed loudly in relief as she found what she was looking for.

Sneakily, she searched around for anyone and hastily lit a cigarette, inhaling deeply once it was in her mouth.

Once satisfied with her smoke, she sipped her cold cup of instant coffee and checked the orphanage's bank balance.

The computer read, _-35,001.43._

_Crap, we're broke._ She swore in her head. _How the hell are we 35,001 and 43 CENTS broke?! WHO THE HELL USED THE DOLLAR AND 43 CENTS?!_

Then she stopped and thought this over. _Oh. Right. The Pocky._

The Sister groaned aloud. _Gotta talk to Shizuru again._

"AOI!" A little black-haired girl ran inside the trailer and Aoi yelped as she tried to hide the cigarette. "HARUKA'S HERE AGAIN! SHE WANTS TO DONATE MORE STUFF!"

"WHAT?!" Aoi yelled as she jumped up from her seat, and frantically ran outside where large noises were being heard.

A large tank was being dropped by crane as two women stood outside directing it.

Well, one woman was flailing her arms while the other tried to calm the first down.

The tank was placed and the ground shook from the mini earthquake it made. A chicken squawked as it flew away in displeasure.

The surrounding orphans all "oohed" at the new piece to their collection...of the other 14 tanks they had already.

-.-


	6. Chapter 6

Just something to keep you guys busy while I write the next chapter of Point Blank.

;P

Glad you guys enjoy it though.

-ManiazAzn

* * *

BOOM!

The humongous tank settled down on the dusty ground and with that explosion, dust scattered arrogantly in Haruka's eyes.

"YOU IDIOT! I TOLD YOU TO PUT IT DOWN LIGHTLY!" Haruka bellowed at the crane's driver, pointing heinously at him.

The driver flinched and apologized profusely to the large woman. He quickly cast his eyes over to the smaller and quieter woman and she sighed, giving him a signal to leave.

The man bowed and promptly ran for his life.

Haruka harumphed and crossed her arms, but not before yelling out, "YEH! YOU BETTER RUN FOR YOUR LIFE BEFORE I FIND YOU AND HANG YOUR BEES ON THIS CLOTHESLINE!"

Yukino paled as she heard the mistake and whispered softly as she tugged at the other woman's arms. "..Balls...Haruka...balls.."

"Right. That's what I said." Quickly, Haruka turned to Aoi and gave a bright smile. "Here's another of my tanks!"

Aoi shooed the children inside the old trailer with a grimace on her face. "Go in Mikoto..No, you can't eat that. ARIKA! DON'T TOUCH THE TANK! Erstin! Please watch these two!"

Once the children were inside, Aoi turned to Haruka with a frown. "Suzushiro-san...the thing is...we would do so much better if you donated..money...instead of tanks."

Haruka waved her hands. "Call me Haruka. And I have so many tanks, I figured you'd have space for it."

"You see...Haruka...the world is getting smaller.." Aoi squinted at the large woman, hoping not to get killed. "But we don't need anything bigger..and we're not exactly running a military service."

With narrowed eyes, Haruka examined the Sister. "And...?"

"We need something practical." Aoi exclaimed, holding her breath and closing her eyes.

"Hmm. Fine. Yukino, my checkbook." Yukino jumped at her name, but pulled out the checkbook.

Aoi's eyes jolted open and she gave a huge smile.

Haruka flipped open her checkbook, wrote some numbers on the check, signed it and handed it to Aoi. "There. Is that enough?"

Her eyes bulging and mouth wide open, Aoi's face was hysterical.

The number _75,000_ was written in large bold print handwriting that was Haruka's on the line for the amount.

"THANK YOU SUZUSHIRO-SAMA!" Bowing feverishly, Aoi almost fell on her face when she stumbled.

Once again, Haruka waved her arm. "Yeah, whatever. Otou-san said I had to invest in something anyways. Old bastard that he is."

A voice called out of nowhere. "Ara? I seems as if we have visitors."

All three women turned to stare at the brunette standing at the gate of the large abandoned lot where the trailer was placed.

Her arms were full of grocery bags and a large pack of pocky popped out of the largest bag.

"SHIZURU! WE GOT A DONATION!" Aoi jumped around happily, dancing slightly, waving the small piece of paper around.

Shizuru chuckled softly. "That's a relief, I thought we'd have to do a car wash again."

"Considering you were in a bikini while you did that." Aoi stopped and looked at Shizuru seriously. "We got so much money from that, it wasn't even funny."

"Ahem." Haruka coughed loudly and obviously.

"Hello Haruka-san." Shizuru smiled as well as she could with the large grocery bags. "I must thank you for the donation."

"Just remember. It was me." Haruka growled, glaring at her competition.

"Of course, of course. Aoi, I'm going to place these bags in the trailer and start dinner." Shizuru gave Yukino a smile before she headed inside.

"Humph. Bubuzuke woman." Haruka stomped back to her car and climbed inside, revving her car and almost forgetting Yukino as she drove away.


	7. Chapter 7

Oh jeez it's been a while. I apologize profusely to my readers! (Assuming I have anymore. :3) But nonetheless, I appreciate the fact that people do still at least look at my writing!

This was rushed so sorry if it seems really really bad!

~ManiazAzn

---

"Oh my godddddd, I'm so hungryyyyyyy!"

"Go figure." A roll of eyes accompanied this comment.

Aoi smiled and clapped her hands, drawing attention away from the two children. "Be nice to Mikoto, Mashiro. Anyways, now we're gunna have a huge dinner to celebrate the brand new tank we have!"

"...Right…" Arika snickered, motioning toward the check in the Sister's hands. "Definitely not 'cause we just got a donation of _seventy-five thousand_ dollars."

"Not at all," Aoi deadpanned and pretended to hide the extremely expensive piece of paper behind her back.

Chuckling, Shizuru glided forward and reached for the check, pocketing it. "How about I go put this in the bank, while Sister goes get your favorite foods for dinner?"

The result was thunderous.

"I WANT RAMEN!!!!!! RAMEN!!!!!!!!!"

"EW NO. WE'VE BEEN EATING THAT STUFF FOR LIKE 5 MILLION MONTHS!"

"WE'RE NOT EVEN THAT OLD."

"LET'S GET SUSHI!!!!"

"WE'RE JAPANESE, YOU LOSER. WE CAN HAVE SUSHI ANYTIME WE WANT."

"FINE! I WANT CHINESE FOOD."

"WHAT THE HELL, CHINESE FOOD?!"

Aoi burst out laughing, doubling over. Several moments later, she composed herself enough to choke out a few words. "Calm down! We can all get what we want! Just go get the numbers of the restaurants and we'll go from there."

Rushing out of the tiny room they called the kitchen, the children stumbled over everything and anything in their haste to find their desired object with Aoi in tow, trying futilely to keep them in check and not flying all over the walls.

Allowing herself a tiny smile after watching the antics of the kids, Shizuru stepped outside of the small house, heading for the nearest bank.

And promptly walked into a wall.

Well, it felt like a wall. The _thing_ she had bumped into was as solidly built as they came. There was a thump as Shizuru collapsed on the floor, holding her throbbing head.

She looked up and was struck by sharp emerald eyes, matching her own vivid burgundy ones. A random thought came to her head. _I've never seen anyone with such bright green eyes._

The _thing_ she had just bumped into looked on in horror and attempted to apologize, "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there, I was just walking along and I saw this puppy go by and I was still looking at it and – "

"It's okay." Shizuru cut them off, with a wince at the pain in her head. _How can someone be that solid? Seriously._

"Here." Embarassed, the stranger offered a hand to Shizuru in an effort to help her up. "I'm really, really sorry. I really am."

Shizuru grimaced and took the stranger's hand, pulling herself up.

Once they were both in a more comfortable position, in other words, standing up, the stranger sheepishly held out their hand again, but this time to introduce herself.

"I'm Kruger. Natsuki Kruger."


End file.
